By Peter N. Peters
‘Mmesomanic Syndrome’ could be defined as a scourge among Nigerian youth and the under-aged, resulting from their growing up with and learning from the consistent immoral behaviours of their parents, schoolmates, peer groups, elderly ones, teachers both in the schools, and in religious centres, etc. It’s christened and marketed by the media as ‘Nigerian factor,’ and wittingly or unwittingly endorsed by successive governments in power at the various levels, by their actions, body languages, and pronouncements.
Recently the media was awash with the celebration of the ‘sterling performance’ turned fraudulent in the recent UTME score of a certain youth named Mmesoma Ejikeme, a student at Anglican Girls Secondary School (AGSS), Nnewi. According to the reports emanating from JAMB, this lad forged her UTME result using the computer, where she allocated to herself the highest UTME score of 362 in the recently concluded examinations, which earned her instant celebrity status in the media and attracted for her largesse from good-spirited Nigerians. This included the Chairman of Innosons Group, who offered her an instant scholarship award to the tune of N3 million. But it all ended up in huge shame for the girl and her parents and a huge embarrassment both to her school, the state, and the nation. Why? Because she eventually confessed to her crime, after her initial ‘innocent girl’ posturing supported by her father. As I write, I learned that the Innosons Group Chairman has canceled the N3 million scholarship awarded to her.
What is most perplexing in all this is that we say we are ‘embarrassed.’ And I ask, WHY? We have for long been living with monumental fraud perpetrated by our political officeholders who take advantage of the mandate they claim we gave them to hold political offices and end up stealing us blind. And we are not embarrassed.
We have been putting up all these years with a civil service, both at the Federal and States levels, hugely rendered ineffective and inefficient by endemic corruption within the system. And we are not embarrassed. We go to our airports, seaports, border posts, police checkpoints on our highways, etc., and we see corruption walking on all fours. And we are not embarrassed.
We have been condoning Professors from Nigeria’s ivory towers, including Prof. Yakubu Mahmood, the National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), whom we hire for the very essential national assignments of helping to conduct free and fair national elections for us. They are specially chosen for this very delicate and all-important national assignment because of their perceived impeccable credentials and integrity, but most of them end up helping the corrupt politicians to rig themselves into office and foul up the entire electoral process. And we are not embarrassed.
Right now, we have as our President, a man whose huge corruption records are no longer being contested, not even by him. Everything about his history is riddled with question marks of fraud, forgery, and lies. From his name to his age, his place of birth, the schools he attended, his link with hard drugs while in the US, the sources of his stupendious wealth, etc. As if all these are not enough baggage to make a normal human being respectfully stay away from public searchlight, he still had the temerity to contest for the highest office in the land despite monumental oppositions, and expectedly, fraudulently muscled himself into office and now sitting pretty as ‘Nigeria’s President.’ AND WE ARE NOT EMBARRASSED? Then suddenly, a little lad, learning very intently at the feet of the masters all around her, has showcased what she has learned so far by falsifying her UTME result. And suddenly we are all embarrassed. What hypocrisy!
Making the matter even more nauseating is the ethnic and religious bias that seemed to have been built into it. Truth be told! Assuming it was one Muslim-Fulani girl, or even in our present new order now, a Muslim-Yoruba girl, that her name was linked with this fraud, would it have generated this level of interest in the media? Would Prof Ishaq Oloyede, the Executive Secretary of JAMB have acted so swiftly, and hastily pronounced the Mmesoma girl guilty even while the DSS investigation, which he instituted was still ongoing? He didn’t stop there. He swiftly banned her from all JAMB examinations for three years.
After all, it was this same JAMB, in defense of its hasty actions, that revealed to the nation a similar and even worse case involving a certain lad from Kaduna State. This child did not even have the advantage of sitting for the JAMB of the year in question like Mmesoma, yet he went ahead and manufactured a fake UTME result for himself. And it was swept under the carpet then. Is this not a clear indicator that this criminal act did not start with Mmesoma? In fact, it has been ongoing, but without the knowledge of the unsuspecting public. So, what is the big deal about Mmesooma’s case? Could it then be assumed that her case ruled and is still ruling the airwaves only because she is a Christian and Igbo? That’s the greatest tragedy of our situation.
*This is not in any way an endorsement of Mmesoma’s criminal act. No, not all! In fact,* *I will advocate that she be made to face the full weight of the law, even if to serve as a deterrent* *to other students of her ilk that may want to indulge in such criminal behaviour in the future* . But beyond that, it should be clearly stated that we are all guilty. We have no business feeling embarrassed. We have been busy all these years sowing the wind. And we are about to begin to reap the wild wind. Nmesoma’s saga is only the tip of the iceberg of what lies ahead of us if we refuse to get the message now, seize the moment and retrace our ugly steps.
Has this anything to do with the fact that Mmesoma Ejikeme hails from the same Anambra State as Mr. Peter Obi, the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in the last presidential elections, who is now in court to retrieve what he sees as his stolen presidential mandate? Stolen by who? Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the ruling party, the All-Progressives Congress (APC), and who has long been sworn in, rightly or wrongly, as the President of Nigeria. He is of the same tribe and religion with the JAMB Executive Secretary.
Is this yet another way of trying to throw mud at Peter Obi? Politicians and their collaborators spear nothing in their usual wars of attrition. Consider again how long it took JAMB to announce the authentic highest scorer in the same JAMB examination, who also happened to be another Anambra girl, Umeh, Kamsinyochukwu Precious, a student at Deeper Life High School, Mowe, Lagos, with a JAMB score of 360. JAMB, for reasons best known to it, held back this announcement when it released the JAMB results of this year. Unlike the practice in previous years when the names of the highest scoring candidates are announced as the results are being released. Her excellent result was not celebrated in the media, until much later when Mmesoma’s misadventure had already taken away the shine from her story. Are these mere coincidences?
We can’t even imagine how much God loves us as a nation. The last electoral season was a clear pointer to how much God is eager to save us from ourselves if we are willing to let Him. Considering the danger posed by this looming “Mmesomanic Syndrome,” and apart from our crunchy ethnic and religious biases, who, in his right mind, will peruse the spackling profile of a Peter Obi, whose character remains unimpeachable in spite of being part of Nigeria’s brand of dirty politics, and then queue behind a Bola Tinubu with the huge garb of filthy baggage he wears all around him, and yet claim to mean well for Nigeria? The contest for the presidential seat, for the first time in a long electoral history, presented the Nigerian electorates with a choice between light and darkness. And it became obvious as the election results were turning in that most Nigerian electorates wisely chose light against the darkness already overshadowing the land.
Sadly, with the active connivance of the electoral umpires and the ruling party, their choice was suddenly overturned, and the one whom most of the electorates voted for was awarded the third position by INEC. It looks like we have got ourselves back into even thicker darkness, as thugs now seem to be the ones calling the shorts. If it’s not thugs from the creeks, it’s thugs in the parks or markets or thugs in politics. And many of us who should know better are beginning to accept this darkness as the ‘will of God’. How can it be?
“ _Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil to thrive” – Haile Salassie._
As things stand today, the very institution on trial happens to be the Nigerian Judiciary. The other arms of government – the Executive and the Legislature can afford to allow themselves to be overrun by endemic corruption, but what about the Judiciary? As the famed last hope of the common man, can the judiciary afford to toy with its image, allowing itself to be swayed by primordial sentiments rather by righteousness and truth? Can the Judiciary allow Nigeria to continue on this dangerous path to perfidy? The Mmesomanic Syndrome is a malady that could destroy the future of this nation, and therefore must be nipped in the bud right now. Can the Judiciary spare a thought about the fate of Nigeria and our children – the ones we humour with the appellation of leaders of tomorrow, if they fail at this critical moment to uphold justice? Can we sleep with our two eyes closed rest assured that justice shall be served without fear, favour or ill will, particularly with the presidential election petitions on its table? I fervently pray the good Lord to grant them the courage, wisdom, and foresight so to do.
• Peters is a Media Practitioner, and the Executive Secretary of Concern for Ethics & Values in Nigeria (CoEViN), an NGO based in the FCT. He can be reached with the email: pnpeters22@gmail.com
